‘Oh, right, sure,’ Pip lied. Of course she was going to mention it, even better if it got Stephen ‘Gropey’ Thompson in trouble. She thanked him and hung up. ‘You were right,’ she told Cara, dropping the phone.

‘I was? Jamie was there? I helped?’

‘He was and you did.’ Pip smiled at her. ‘Well, we have two eyewitness accounts, neither with an exact time, but I think we can be fairly certain Jamie went there after the memorial. Now I need to try find photographic evidence, narrow down the timeframe. What’s the best way to get a message to everyone who was at the calamity?’

‘Message everyone in that school year group on Facebook?’ Cara shrugged.

‘Good idea.’ Pip re-awakened her laptop. ‘I should tell Connor first. What the hell was Jamie doing there?’ Her computer burred into life and Jamie’s face popped up onscreen from the missing poster document, his pale eyes staring right out into hers, holding her there as a cold shiver crept down the back of her neck. She knew him; this was Jamie. Jamie. But how well did you ever know anyone? She watched his eyes, trying to unpick the secrets that lay behind them. Where are you? She asked him silently, face to face.

Hi everyone,

As you might have seen from posters up in town, Jamie Reynolds (Connor’s older brother) went missing on Friday night after the memorial. I have recently learned that Jamie was seen at the calamity party at Stephen Thompson’s house on Highmoor. I am making an urgent appeal for anyone who was there to please send me all photos and videos you took while at the party (I promise that none of these will make their way to parents / police at any time). This includes Snapchat / Instagram stories if you have those saved. Please send those in ASAP to the email address listed above. I am posting Jamie’s photo below. If anyone remembers seeing him at the party or has any information at all on his whereabouts or movements Friday night, please get in contact with me via email or my phone number above.

Thank you,

Pip

12:58

Pip:

George, George, I’ve just pressed record. I’ll get you to sign a form at school tomorrow, but for now can I ask whether you consent to your voice being used in a published podcast.

George:

Yes, that’s fine.

Pip:

OK, I’ve moved to the back of the café, can you hear me better now?

George:

Yep, much better.

Pip:

OK. So, you saw my message on Facebook. Let’s go back over what you started to tell me. Can you go back to the beginning?

George:

Yeah so I saw him –

Pip:

Sorry, a bit before that too. So, on Friday night, you were where?

George:

Oh, right. On Friday, after the memorial, I went to the calamity party at Stephen Thompson’s house. I wasn’t drinking much because we’ve got a big football match next week, Ant’s probably told you that. So, I remember the whole night. And I saw him, I saw that Jamie Reynolds in the living room. He was standing against one of the walls, not talking to anyone. I remember thinking to myself, I didn’t know him and, y’know, it’s normally the same crowd from school who goes to calamities, so he stuck out to me. I didn’t talk to him, though.

Pip:

OK. Now let’s go back to when you saw him next.

George:

Right. So, a little while later, I went out the front to have a cigarette. There were only a few people out front, Jas and Katie M were talking because Katie was crying about something. And Jamie Reynolds was out there too. I remember it very clearly. He was pacing up and down the pavement in front of the house and talking to someone on the phone.

Pip:

Can you describe his demeanour while he was on the phone?

George:

Yeah, well, he looked kind of . . . agitated. Like angry, but not quite. Maybe scared? His voice was kinda shaky.

Pip:

And could you hear anything he was saying?

George:

Only a little bit. As I was lighting up, I remember hearing him say: “No, I can’t do that.” Or words to that effect. And he repeated that a couple of times, like: “I can’t do that, I can’t.” And by this time, he’d sort of caught my attention, so I was listening in while pretending to look through my phone. After a while, Jamie started shaking his head, saying something like: “I know I said anything, but . . .” and sort of trailed off.

Pip:

Did he notice you were there? That you were listening?

George:

Don’t think so. I don’t think he was aware of anything other than what was going on at the other end of the phone. He was sort of plugging his other ear so he could hear them better. He went quiet for a bit, like he was listening, still pacing. And he said: “I could call the police,” or something like that. I definitely remember him mentioning the police.

Pip:

Did he say it in a confrontational way, or like he was offering to help?

George:

I don’t know, it was hard to tell which. So then he was quiet for a while, listening again, seemed to grow more jittery. I remember him saying something about a child.

Pip:

A child? Whose child?

George:

Don’t know, I just heard the word. And then Jamie looked up and we accidentally made eye contact and he must have realized I was listening in. So then, still on the phone, he started walking away from the house, down the street, and the last thing I heard him say was something like: “I don’t think I can do it.”

Pip:

Which direction was he going?

George:

Pretty sure he went right, heading towards the high street.

Pip:

And you didn’t see him come back to the house at all?

George:

No. I was out there for, like, another five minutes. He was gone.

Pip:

And do you have any idea what time any of this happened?

George:

I know exactly when this was, because right after Jamie left, like thirty seconds after, I texted this girl from Chesham High I’ve been talking to. Sent her this meme of SpongeBob . . . you know what, that’s irrelevant, but my phone says I sent that at 10:32 p.m. and it was literally right after Jamie walked away.

Pip:

10:32? George, that’s perfect. Thank you so much. Did you pick up any hints about the person Jamie was talking to? Could you tell if it was a man or a woman?

George:

No. No I couldn’t tell anything else, other than Jamie didn’t much like what they were saying to him. Do you . . . Do you think Connor’s brother is OK? Maybe I should have told someone what I saw sooner? If I’d texted Connor that night . . .

Pip:

That’s OK, you didn’t know Jamie was missing until an hour ago. And your information has been incredibly helpful. Connor will really appreciate it.

Twelve